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Firm description and career prospects

Mills & Co. Solicitors Limited specialises exclusively in shipping and international trade. Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, and currently with a team of 24 lawyers we are the largest specialist in our fields outside London. Newcastle has strong historical roots in shipping and has long been the UK's 'second city' for shipping law. Our work is conducted before the same London-based courts and tribunals as the London firms specialising in the same fields. Within shipping and international trade globally, we are ranked alongside the leading London law firms and are compared favourably by clients and legal directories. For academically gifted lawyers wanting to combine the intellectual stimulation of working in some of the most interesting and varied areas of international commercial law with the quality of life advantages of the North East, our traineeships provide a unique opportunity.

We provide a full service in our specialist fields. In shipping we have a significant presence in both 'dry' work (essentially law of contract work involving all types of contracts used for hiring and insuring ships, carrying cargoes, building and financing new ships, and buying, selling, financing and repairing second hand ships), as well as 'wet' work (essentially law of tort work involving collisions between one ship and another ship as well as between ships and other structures, groundings, as well as specialist contracts concerning salvage, towage and other services provided to ships in distress). In international trade we are involved in drafting, advising on and litigating contracts in relation to the international sale of goods.

We aim to provide work to the highest standards in the UK and therefore seek trainees who combine high academic achievement (AAB at A level and 2.1 at university level) with an outgoing personality and an international outlook. Languages are an advantage as our lawyers travel to visit the leading shipping markets globally.

We are committed to providing the best training possible with the aim that our trainees will stay with us upon qualification and ultimately become directors. In return we are seeking a genuine interest in shipping law and a clear commitment to remaining in the North East.

Company Registration No. 09654668 (SRA No. 636160)

Sponsorship

We will pay your GDL and LPC fees.

Work placements

We offer one-week vacation schemes in spring and summer 2018 ahead of our 29 July 2018 deadline for 2020 traineeships.

Training contract programme

We operate a three-seat system each of about eight months in shipping litigation (shipping contract/tort disputes), commercial (a non-contentious seat including ship sale and purchase, shipbuilding, ship repair and ship finance) and commercial litigation (commodity sale contract disputes). In each seat the trainee sits with a director specialising in the relevant field. We have a roughly 1:1 ratio between directors and non-directors which allows us to provide detailed supervision of trainees and junior lawyers. Trainees can expect to receive work from most of the directors during their traineeships as we do not operate in teams and aim to ensure that trainees sample all areas of the firm's work.

Type of practice

Niche

Work areas

Offices

Merchant Taylor’s Hall in the City of London was crackling with excitement as representatives from over 70 top law firms convened to find out who would be the winners of the prestigious LawCareers.Net Training & Recruitment Awards 2016.

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